White Eagles

By Elizabeth Wein

White Eagles

Charlie's review
I found the character of Joseph the most interesting because he is Jewish and had to run away from the school grounds while the Germans shot his parents dead. I liked all the characters and I do not think there are any that I dislike. I learnt how quickly the Germans swept through Poland. It was interesting because it was set at the start of WW2 a period of history where I do not know that much about. The plot was exiting because they had to fly through so many different countries and different axis powers too. The bit that stands out from the book is when her brother comes down from the polish plane into the German occupied airfield and the German officer just shoots him in the head. It stands out because it is so brutal. I would recommend this book to others. I learnt about the different types of polish planes.

Kaanchana's review
The book White Eagles are about twins Katrina and Leopold who were part of the air force in Poland who helped combat Germany during the Nazi war. Katrina is introduced as a very strong female character in the book that had just been called up to join the White Eagles, Poland valiant air force. Her character in this book was empowered even more when she watched her brother Leopold killed by Nazi soldier; her extraordinary escape from the Nazi’s grip and her ability to stay strong and carry on after just watching her brother die was truly inspiring. Her character was well complimented with Julian; a young boy (eleven years old) who had snuck into her plane in the night trying to escape. Julian acted as a side kick to Katrina and made the pair almost look like batman and robin. A key feature Katrina and Julian share is that they both lost someone beloved; Katrina her brother and Julian his parents. They were both grieving of their loss and this is what made them stronger. Even though they both were in pain as a team they worked hard to survive and did. The contrast of both of their characters made the book much more interesting to read.

The book did not have much information about the past as in regards to history as it also only touches very lightly on the history of Nazi Germany but it did give an insight to the allies and enemies of the country and what it would have been like to be a polish during Nazi Germany. The book was set in the summer of 1939 just when World War 2 broke out; and personally, finding topics about World War 2 very interesting the timing and setting of the whole story intrigued me very much.

The Plot was very subtle and nothing too dramatic as the book moved at a good pace (not too fast, not too slow). However when Leopold was killed by a Nazi soldier, this was very dramatic and completely changed the course of this book although it was slightly expected as when he landed, it was right in the place of conflict where there were German soldiers and he had just managed to take down a German Plane. There were some twists and turns in the book which did make it interesting to read but there were no unexpected plots. Personally, I could figure out what the plot was when in the middle of the story.

I would recommend this book to a few of my friends interested in Nazi German history as I did learn a couple of things from this book although a lot of this book is about flying in air force planes used during the war as there were many descriptions made towards it. Most of the book was about flying the plane and that did become boring at times, but the writer managed to keep a good flow throughout the book.



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